Collaborative Research: Parallel, Adaptive Manufacturing of Nano-scale Electrical Interconnects Using DNA Self-Assembly

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Perhaps the most important technology to arise in the past 100 years has been the integrated circuit, which is the key component of computers, smartphones, tablets, and other widely used consumer electronic devices. Conventional lithography and micromachining methods have made possible large-scale manufacturing of integrated circuits. However, transitioning to increased performance and functionality with smaller, nanometer-scale fabrication is extremely costly and currently involves highly trained personnel and slow methods that are not readily scaled up. We will use the selectivity of DNA pairing to build connectors for circuit elements at the nanoscale at low cost and without human intervention. These biomolecular connectors will be subsequently coated with materials used in integrated circuits. This award will show the feasibility of utilizing self-assembly with DNA as an automated manufacturing technique that can be scaled up in the future to create nanoscale electrical circuits in a highly parallel manner. This award will be carried out by students at both universities and will involve extensive interaction through videoconferencing and travel to respective laboratories to enable all students to develop expertise in the different areas needed to complete this work. The research will draw from ideas across engineering and science and will include education and outreach programs for K-12 and undergraduate students that include in-person interaction and mentorship of underrepresented minority students in Baltimore City and the Provo Utah area. This award will develop a method for assembling conductive nanowires precisely between molecular-scale terminals using DNA nanostructure assembly and post-functionalization. Such a method could be used to self-assemble and position many connectors in parallel. Importantly, this adaptive assembly method does not require the positions and orientations of these terminals and the distance between them to be known in advance. To explore the feasibility of this assembly method and the functionality of the resulting connectors, the project will develop a platform that will enable the simultaneous bottom-up assembly of many interconnects between electrodes, such that the electrical conductivity of each assembled interconnect can be characterized. The research team will build an array of multiple conductive interconnects templated by DNA nanostructures such that their terminals are precisely positioned on electrodes and use bottom-up methods to direct the assembly of DNA connectors precisely between these terminal molecules. Electroless plating and related methods will then be used to assemble conductive connections between the terminals. The electrical characterization of many such connectors simultaneously will provide valuable information about the inherent variability in performance of such connectors, while measuring the yield of assembly will increase our understanding of the reliability of bottom-up assembly of electronic circuits and devices.